[antiRepublicrat]

Yes, Verizon had first crack at the IPhone but Apple had so many restrictions they opted not to take it.

Verizon was still thinking old-school, and they paid for it. Here were the major terms:

• Apple gets to design the phone
• Secrecy must be maintained
• The carrier must change its system to enable better voice mail
• The carrier does not subsidize the phone, in return Apple gets a chunk of the monthly fees (this has since changed)
• The carrier gets a five year exclusive for doing all this

I hear the first one was a big problem since the carriers are used to being able to meddle in the design of the phone, which is probably why smart phones sucked until the iPhone came out.

[Golden Eagle]

smart phones sucked until the iPhone came out.

No they didn't. And you're hardly qualified to comment on such matters anyway since you've previously admitted you don't have a cell phone of any kind LOL. For the record I have an iPhone, a Blackberry, and a Treo, there's still many things I can do on my other phones I can't do on my iPhone, starting with incredibly simple things like cut copy and paste, or picture messaging. It's still a great device, my personal favorite despite its shortcomings, but trying to claim all smart phones sucked before iPhone is ridiculous, especially from someone who doesn't even have one.